The world has seen amazing changes in politics over the last 20 months or so and especially with the so-called Arab Spring. Suddenly the word ‘democracy’ is the stomatic cry of the unwashed from the Middle-East to Burma and a new fideistic faith is born in an old ideology. The cry of the people abrogates the old oligarchies and dictatorships to replace these with a new bye word, ‘democracy. In fact the passion for this is ineluctable and those who would stand in the way of this change risk mortal danger or even death. On the face of it this would seen as a change for the better in a world where so many live in poverty and it would appear that even the inculcation of the normally factionalized groups is complete. Whether the Middle-East is ready for this change yet is another matter as can be seen in many other countries where there are factions and poor people such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and across Africa and elections are oft the forerunner to bitter infighting and murder and sometimes war.

However, my thoughts are not with this idea of democracy, but people’s perception of what it is and why there is such faith in it. Certainly the idea of democracy is fundamentally good, but that could be said about most textual ideologies including communism. Moreover, democracy itself can be seen to be under attack by its main proponent the US where its ritualistic prime-time game show type debates show the exogenous effects of how corporates control not only the media but also the political process itself, and even the process becomes farcical and comedic. These same corporates and government then fund NGOs to dole out money for the promotion of democracy in other countries and physical training to insurgents to effect regime change. We saw this in the ‘Colour-Revolutions’ and it is, and has happened in the Middle-East. The end –game for this may well be democracies with ‘funded’ candidates who are bound to win due to their unequal influence and promulgation in the media and social networks.

I actually see this as the way the world is heading and there is little that can be done about it due to the stoic belief in the West that their media is free and unbiased. However my thesis is that although ‘the people’ believe in democracy as an infallible way of government and politics it is an equivocation of what they believe in other walks of life where there is little to no ineluctable media to influence any cerebral thoughts and ideas.

It is axiomatic that many people believe in a deity of one franchise or another and of the world’s population there are approximately 2 billion Christians, 2 billion Muslims, 1 billion Hindus and many other flavours. Therefore the vast majority of the people of the world have a faith of some kind of which they are either an ardent adherent or just a registered member of that sect. Amongst these billions there are many, and probably a vast majority, who see democracy as the only solution to government and politics rather than an oligarchy or even dictatorship and some would even kill to prove their point.

Yet most or many of these same people show insouciance to an oligarchy or dictatorship within their own religious franchise. There are no elections which involve the flock and it is just an inner circle that decides who will be the ‘head enchilada’, and then they present this person as the putative leader of the flock. This is readily accepted without rancor and the rumbling, grinding and often profitable franchise continues unabated and without comment from the fideistic followers.

This is the antithesis of those calling for democracy in politics and one can only assume that this is because religion does not come under a media spotlight to highlight this anomaly. The followers of religions genuflect supine to the power of those who assume their right by obfuscating practices of hagiographic extemporization alone. Therefore as in many Middle-Eastern countries there will probably be a block vote led by a religious oligarchy to service the ballot box a certain way and maybe the oligarchy of the corporates has to pander to this religious oligarchy in building any democracy that they are funding in the first place.

It falls to a certain logic then that the mendacious democratic veil conceived by these dual oligarchic powers (corporates and religion) only serves to give the ‘people’ specious claims about what democracy really is, which on the face of it is most likely a clone of American democracy.

North Africa is practically Europe
North Africans are practically Europeans.

With the successful Arab Spring. North Africa will not be different from the rest of Europe in 20 years.

I've made my living, Mr. Thompson, in large part as a gambler. Some days I make twenty bets, some days I make none. There are weeks, sometimes months, in fact, when I don't make any bet at all because ...

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there is no good reason for North Africans to continue to live with military dictatorships.

just like there is no good reason for the former Soviets to go back to USSR days.

it has been tested and founded Hated..............they hate it and it will never be allowed to return.

I've made my living, Mr. Thompson, in large part as a gambler. Some days I make twenty bets, some days I make none. There are weeks, sometimes months, in fact, when I don't make any bet at all because ...

expatter Post time: 2012-11-29 23:38
North Africa IS already different from the rest of Europe .........

no, for a few thousand years, North Africa is Roman ...........as Europeans as any Roman city.

yes, it was poor because it was exploited ..............Democracy and Arab Spring means the return of North Africa.

That is the Audacity of Hope.............................

not the expatter of fear and slavery and scared by Expatter.

I've made my living, Mr. Thompson, in large part as a gambler. Some days I make twenty bets, some days I make none. There are weeks, sometimes months, in fact, when I don't make any bet at all because ...

expatter Post time: 2012-11-29 23:38
North Africa IS already different from the rest of Europe .........

as water hopes to go down
human beings hope to improve.

Arab Springs is just the beginning
Democracy is the tool to lift the whole region.

the audacity of hope vs the slavery by Expatters and kleptocrats.

I've made my living, Mr. Thompson, in large part as a gambler. Some days I make twenty bets, some days I make none. There are weeks, sometimes months, in fact, when I don't make any bet at all because ...